Plane, wildlife collisions on rise nationwide

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS OCT. 13-14 - Bob Grunza walks along a runway at the Avoca airport checking for animals that would endanger flights at the Avoca airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 in Avoca, Pa.. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a potentially deadly encounter. Collisions between wildlife and aircraft increased five-fold from 1990 to 2011 nationwide, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized in a recent federal report for alleged gaps in its monitoring of wildlife hazards in and around the nation's airports. (AP Photo/The Citizens' Voice, Warren Ruda) MANDATORY CREDIT

Collisions between wildlife and aircraft increased five-fold from 1990 to 2011 nationwide, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized in a recent federal report for alleged gaps in its monitoring of wildlife hazards in and around the nation’s airports.

Experts cite several factors for the increase, including an explosion in the population of some bird species, steady growth in air traffic and improved record-keeping after an Airbus 320 was forced into an emergency landing in the Hudson River when geese were sucked into its engines in January 2009.

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The passengers in that flight escaped serious injury, but 24 people have been killed and 235 injured in the United States in collisions between aircraft and animals since 1988. In 1990, there were 1,770 wildlife collisions involving commercial, private and military aircraft utilizing civilian U.S. airports. In 2011, the number was 9,840. Ninety-seven percent of the 120,000 incidents since 1990 involved birds.

Almost all of the 104 wildlife incidents reported at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport since 1990 have involved birds, according to FAA statistics, but three aircraft have collided with deer and a fourth was forced to abort a landing to avoid striking one on a runway.

Nearly 40 percent of the 104 incidents occurred since 2008 and Airport Director Barry Centini attributes the increased frequency to heightened vigilance by pilots, airport employees and the FAA.

“Maybe in years past, the reporting was not as good,” Centini said.

“Now, when we’re doing a runway check and we find a bird on the runway, we report it as a strike,” Centini said. “We happen to see a bird and we’re filling out the forms. Ten or 15 years ago, you may have swept the bird off the runway and said, ‘Something happened here. Maybe it was the grass cutter.’ You wouldn’t report it.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has experienced no deaths or injuries from wildlife collisions. Three of the strikes there resulted in extensive damage to aircraft, requiring $1.5 million in repairs.

A Citizens’ Voice analysis of wildlife incidents at Pennsylvania’s busiest airports and three major airports in the New York metropolitan area shows the local airport had fewer reported incidents per 100,000 takeoffs and landings in 1990-2011 than all but the Lehigh Valley International Airport.

Nearly three-quarters of wildlife/aircraft collisions happen at altitudes of 500 feet or below, according to the FAA, and therefore most occur on or near airport grounds.

The FAA requires Class I airports like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that serve passenger aircraft with more than 30 seats to conduct wildlife assessments and implement mitigation plans, if necessary, after experiencing a “triggering event” involving multiple birds striking an aircraft, engine ingestion of birds, or substantial damage to an aircraft.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s mitigation plan includes an eight-foot, barbed-wire-topped fence around its 900 acres with four feet of wooden snow fencing buried underneath to frustrate burrowing animals.

“That doesn’t mean they don’t get in,” Centini said. “We have a license to shoot and kill them. We’ve shot deer. We’ve shot a bear. We’ve had a bear trapped and taken out of the airport.”

“We have pistols with cracker shots that disperse the birds,” Centini said. “Then there is being diligent and knowing the habits of birds.

“We keep our grass a certain height. We try not to keep standing water on the airport. Our retention ponds have to empty within 24 hours.”

While airports have been directed by the FAA to limit the availability of water on their properties, outside the airport fence strengthened protections for wetlands and a trend toward including expansive green space in urban and suburban development have created environments in which birds can thrive, leading to population booms for some species.

For example, the number of non-migratory Canadian geese in the United States and Canada ballooned from 500,000 to 3.5 million from 1989 to 2000, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Picture a housing development,” said Cody L. Baciuska, a biologist with Loomacres Wildlife Management, a Warnerville, N.Y., consulting firm that develops wildlife management plans for airports. “Most have some type of pond for decoration or runoff purposes. Generally you’re not going to have hunters going in and putting pressure on geese there. And you have an abundant food source, the well-maintained grass. They love to feed on that.

“You have public parks where people will feed them and give them handouts.”

Canada geese, which can weigh up to 20 pounds and have wingspans of 4 to 5 feet, are a particular hazard because of their size. Smaller birds such as doves, gulls, pigeons, raptors and starlings, are struck more often, but are less likely to cause serious damage, according to FAA data.

“European starlings are another issue,” Baciuska said. “Individually, they’re not a significant threat, but their habit of forming large flocks is what makes them a significant hazard. Several hundred ingested into an engine can cause significant damage.”

In a report released in August, the Inspector General’s Office for the U.S. Department of Transportation faulted the FAA for what it termed “limited and infrequent” coordination with other federal agencies that regulate wetland projects outside airport boundaries that could contribute to wildlife hazards.

The report also recommended that the FAA make it mandatory for airports to report wildlife collisions to the agency, finding the voluntary nature of the current system limits its effectiveness.

“While FAA recommends wildlife strike reporting, it does not require it,” the report said.” Consequently, not all airports choose to report all their wildlife strikes. For example, one airport we visited reported 90 percent of strikes recorded in 2010 to FAA, while another airport reported only 11 percent.”

The Inspector General’s Office concluded that airports should report collisions to the FAA and also compile quarterly reports for submission to the agency.

In its written response to that report, the FAA countered that it plans to require airports to keep in-house records of wildlife collisions beginning in November, but it does not believe mandatory reports to the agency are necessary, as FAA inspectors can review collision records during routine inspections.

“FAA does not believe that creating and enforcing a quarterly reporting requirement is an effective or efficient use of resources,” the agency responded. “FAA would prefer to use its resources addressing the issues directly rather than creating new paperwork requirements for its inspection workforce.”

Asked to comment for this story, the FAA issued a statement maintaining that while reports of wildlife collisions have increased, the number of collisions causing aircraft damage have decreased. FAA data show that collisions causing damage peaked in 2000 at 758. There were 542 such collisions in 2011. In the intervening years, annual collisions causing damage ranged between 526 and 673.

“Over the last few years, damaging wildlife strikes have decreased on and near the airport environment while the level of reporting has increased thanks to the FAA’s new approach to mitigate wildlife hazards through research, technology, training, and online reporting,” the statement said. “More airports have completed wildlife hazard assessments and developed local mitigation plans. The FAA has already adopted and completed a majority of the IG’s recommendations, and will continue to make improvements to the wildlife hazard mitigation program.”

Baciuska agreed with the FAA that the current voluntary reporting system provides adequate information for tracking airports’ performance in limiting wildlife hazards, but he cautioned against assuming that a high frequency of collisions reported by any airport means that airport is less safe.

“Sometimes when you see high strike report rates, it’s a good sign that the airport is taking it seriously and making sure they implement some type of wildlife management program,” Baciuska said.

“They’re internally making it a requirement that their employees report bird strikes and they just have a more developed wildlife mitigation program.”

“You have public parks where people will feed them and give them handouts.”

Canada geese, which can weigh up to 20 pounds and have wingspans of 4 to 5 feet, are a particular hazard because of their size. Smaller birds such as doves, gulls, pigeons, raptors and starlings, are struck more often, but are less likely to cause serious damage, according to FAA data.

“European starlings are another issue,” Baciuska said. “Individually, they’re not a significant threat, but their habit of forming large flocks is what makes them a significant hazard. Several hundred ingested into an engine can cause significant damage.”

In a report released in August, the Inspector General’s Office for the U.S. Department of Transportation faulted the FAA for what it termed “limited and infrequent” coordination with other federal agencies that regulate wetland projects outside airport boundaries that could contribute to wildlife hazards.

The report also recommended that the FAA make it mandatory for airports to report wildlife collisions to the agency, finding the voluntary nature of the current system limits its effectiveness.

“While FAA recommends wildlife strike reporting, it does not require it,” the report said.” Consequently, not all airports choose to report all their wildlife strikes. For example, one airport we visited reported 90 percent of strikes recorded in 2010 to FAA, while another airport reported only 11 percent.”

The Inspector General’s Office concluded that airports should report collisions to the FAA and also compile quarterly reports for submission to the agency.

In its written response to that report, the FAA countered that it plans to require airports to keep in-house records of wildlife collisions beginning in November, but it does not believe mandatory reports to the agency are necessary, as FAA inspectors can review collision records during routine inspections.

“FAA does not believe that creating and enforcing a quarterly reporting requirement is an effective or efficient use of resources,” the agency responded. “FAA would prefer to use its resources addressing the issues directly rather than creating new paperwork requirements for its inspection workforce.”

Asked to comment for this story, the FAA issued a statement maintaining that while reports of wildlife collisions have increased, the number of collisions causing aircraft damage have decreased. FAA data show that collisions causing damage peaked in 2000 at 758. There were 542 such collisions in 2011. In the intervening years, annual collisions causing damage ranged between 526 and 673.

“Over the last few years, damaging wildlife strikes have decreased on and near the airport environment while the level of reporting has increased thanks to the FAA’s new approach to mitigate wildlife hazards through research, technology, training, and online reporting,” the statement said. “More airports have completed wildlife hazard assessments and developed local mitigation plans. The FAA has already adopted and completed a majority of the IG’s recommendations, and will continue to make improvements to the wildlife hazard mitigation program.”

Baciuska agreed with the FAA that the current voluntary reporting system provides adequate information for tracking airports’ performance in limiting wildlife hazards, but he cautioned against assuming that a high frequency of collisions reported by any airport means that airport is less safe.

“Sometimes when you see high strike report rates, it’s a good sign that the airport is taking it seriously and making sure they implement some type of wildlife management program,” Baciuska said.

“They’re internally making it a requirement that their employees report bird strikes and they just have a more developed wildlife mitigation program.”

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Information from: The Citizens’ Voice, http://www.citizensvoice.com

Caption 1:

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS OCT. 13-14 - Bob Grunza walks along a runway at the Avoca airport checking for animals that would endanger flights at the Avoca airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 in Avoca, Pa.. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a potentially deadly encounter. Collisions between wildlife and aircraft increased five-fold from 1990 to 2011 nationwide, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized in a recent federal report for alleged gaps in its monitoring of wildlife hazards in and around the nation’s airports. (AP Photo/The Citizens’ Voice, Warren Ruda) MANDATORY CREDIT

Caption 2:

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS OCT. 13-14 - A BIrdhouse is situated near a hanger at the Avoca airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 in Avoca, Pa.. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a potentially deadly encounter. Collisions between wildlife and aircraft increased five-fold from 1990 to 2011 nationwide, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized in a recent federal report for alleged gaps in its monitoring of wildlife hazards in and around the nation’s airports. (AP Photo/The Citizens’ Voice, Warren Ruda) MANDATORY CREDIT

Caption 3:

ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS OCT. 13-14 - An ultrasonic bird repeller is situated in hanger at the Avoca airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 in Avoca, Pa. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a potentially deadly encounter. Collisions between wildlife and aircraft increased five-fold from 1990 to 2011 nationwide, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was criticized in a recent federal report for alleged gaps in its monitoring of wildlife hazards in and around the nation’s airports. (AP Photo/The Citizens’ Voice, Warren Ruda) MANDATORY CREDIT